{"product_id":"chateau-rayas-chateauneuf-du-pape-reserve-blanc-2009","title":"Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Blanc 2009","description":"\u003cp\u003eChâteau Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Blanc 2009 is a Grenache Blanc from Rhône with deep gold fruit, spice and rare cellar depth from Rayas' sandy estate. The 2009 sits in a quiet place for Châteauneuf white. It feels golden, waxy and slow moving, with old oak folded into apricot, peach and honeysuckle.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eAbout the Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChâteau Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Blanc 2009 comes from the Rayas estate, a secluded Châteauneuf-du-Pape holding with pale sand over pockets of clay in a sector far from the postcard image of stone-covered vineyards. The soil mix is sand and clay, and this 2009 reads with breadth and a powdery feel on the finish. The Grenache Blanc is certified organic, and the vineyard material carries the mature 2009 stamp through ripe orchard fruit and a deep golden colour. Rayas white is rare even in serious cellars, and this bottle has the quiet density that makes the estate’s sandy plots feel so different from the broader appellation.\n\nThe wine was aged for around 18 to 24 months in old French oak barrels. That long élevage has folded the oak into the fruit, with vanilla and baking spice tucked into apricot and quince. The oak note is old-cellar gentle, with used-cask calm and a spice-cupboard edge. At 14.5% alcohol, the dry 2009 Reserve Blanc has a broad texture and a firm savoury line. The old barrels leave a faint beeswax sheen across the final notes of peach skin and warm spice.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTasting Notes\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe colour is deep gold and the first scent is Rayas in a mature white key, with apricot skin, white peach and honeysuckle rising slowly from the glass. Old French oak appears as vanilla pod and warm baking spice, folded into quince, almond and yellow fruit with a soft cask sweetness. The palate is rich and almost oily, then the finish tightens into salt, stone and a bitter peach-kernel note that keeps drawing the wine out. This 2009 Grenache Blanc has the breadth of a long-aged Rayas Blanc, with 14.5% alcohol carried through ripe fruit, beeswax and a dry mineral close that lingers like warm sand and fennel seed. Drink 2025-2040.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003ePour Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Blanc 2009 with turbot in beurre blanc, letting the wine’s apricot depth and old oak spice sink into the sauce. Scallops with saffron and fennel are another strong match, especially if the pan juices have a little shellfish sweetness and a squeeze of orange. For a Rhône-region plate, choose Lyon-style pike quenelles with Nantua sauce or a Provençal chicken with garlic, thyme and olives. Aged Comté, roast guinea fowl with mushrooms and veal blanquette all suit the bottle’s dry richness, as the 2009 has enough waxy texture for cream and enough savoury length for browned poultry skin. Serve it slightly warmer than a brisk aperitif white, around cellar cool, so the honeysuckle and quince details stay open in the glass.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eProducer\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eChâteau Rayas is the Châteauneuf-du-Pape estate people talk about in a lowered voice, and the conversation often starts with the pale sand around the château and the small scale of the place. The domaine sits apart from the familiar fields of galets roulés, with sandy soils among trees and a cooler-feeling pocket that marks both red Rayas and the rare Reserve Blanc inside its walled and wooded setting. In the glass, Rayas wines carry perfume and texture in a way that feels recognisable long before the label is seen by anyone at the table, especially in mature bottles such as this 2009. Emmanuel Reynaud inherited a house style shaped by his uncle Jacques Reynaud, then kept the wines deliberately personal through farming and élevage that favour perfume, pale colour and patient release. The white remains a small and coveted part of the cellar, and the 2009 Château Rayas Châteauneuf-du-Pape Reserve Blanc shows the estate’s quietness through Grenache Blanc in a register of apricot, wax and spice. Old wood plays a central role here, giving the Blanc a burnished frame that feels distinctly Rayas and a long distance from any standard Châteauneuf-du-Pape recipe built on weight and obvious power or glossy new oak.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Chateau Rayas","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54252386877777,"sku":"PS-8006085902536","price":943.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0874\/0614\/9969\/files\/dwadasdddaldal_486681f3-daec-468f-bba4-46dc5e7f392a.png?v=1783444427","url":"https:\/\/bottlehero.com\/products\/chateau-rayas-chateauneuf-du-pape-reserve-blanc-2009","provider":"Bottle Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}